Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

In the Immune System Symptoms section of the questionnaire, The Analyst™ will ask the following question about slow wound healing:

Wound healing. Do your wounds (any breaks in the skin) seem to take longer to heal than they would in other people? Small wounds normally take 3 days to 3 weeks to heal (grow new skin over the injury).

Alcohol impairs wound healing and increases the likelihood of wound infection. Alcohol impairs the early inflammatory response; it inhibits wound closure, development of new blood vessels, and collagen production; it alters the protease balance at the wound site, which is needed to remove foreign matter and dead tissue; it decreases resistance to infectious microorganisms.

People with diabetes often have impaired wound healing. Even a tiny sore may remain unhealed and/or infected for months or even years. In severe cases, overwhelming infection and lack of oxygen and nutrients leads to gangrene.

Many studies have demonstrated enhanced wound and ulcer healing with oral zinc supplementation. The healing time of surgical wounds was reduced by 43% with zinc sulfate at 50mg tid. Not surprisingly, zinc deficiency is also associated with impaired wound healing. A study of patients deficient in zinc found that topically applied zinc oxide, but not zinc sulfate, enhanced the regeneration of epithelial tissue on leg ulcers. In addition, inflammation and bacterial growth were both reduced.